The Battle of Iwo Jima, or sometimes refered to as Operation Detachment, was a battle in which the United States fought for and captured from Japan. This battle produced some of the fiercest fighting in the pacific theater. This was due to the extensive defenses that had been put in place. Just as the germans had done in france the japanese had fortified and built bunkers, tunnels, and a vast amount of hidden artillery. Iwo Jima is where the iconic picture of 5 Marines and one Navy corpsmen raise the american flag on top of Mount Serabachi. The capturing of this island gave the United States two airfields to bomb main land japan from.
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| Destruction on Iwo Jima |